The Fifth Polish Conference on Crystal Growth (PCCG-V) was held during 10-13 May 1998 in Naleczów (about 25 km from Lublin, Poland) in Centrum Szkoleniowo-Wypoczynkowe „Energetyk”. The conference was organised under the auspices of Polish Society for Crystal Growth jointly by the Institute of Physics and the Department of Materials Engineering of the  Technical University of Lublin, and was financially supported by the State Committee for Scientific Research (KBN) through the Polish Ministry of Higher Education.

In all 84 participants, including 20 foreign participants from Austria, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Romania, Spain and Ukraine, took part in the conference, and presented 71 works (20 invited lectures, 14 oral presentations and 37 posters). The works presented dealt with the following topics: (1) bulk crystal growth, (2) growth of thin and thick films, (3) characterisation of crystals and crystalline films, (4) nucleation, and (5) structure and properties of liquid crystals and electrolyte solutions.

Based on the works presented in the PCCG-V, 43 manuscripts were submitted for publication in the special issue of Crystal Research and Technology. All manuscipts were then subjected to a standard refereeing procedure. To the Guest Editor’s surprise, the referees suggested major revisions or complete rewriting of a majority of the manuscripts, although some were outrightly rejected. However, from the originally submitted manuscripts the referees approved 36 for publication. Unfortunately, up to the deadline for the submission of revised manuscripts the Guest Editor received only 32. These 32 manuscripts are being published in the special issue.

The Guest Editor is grateful to the many referees for their efficient collaboration in the peer reviewing of the manuscripts, and to Mrs Tatiana Palczynska for looking after the correspondence. Last but not the least, he expresses his sincere gratitude to the Editors of Crystal Research and Technology, Professors W. Neumann and K.W. Benz, for their invitation to publish the papers based on the works presented in PCCG-V and for their encouragement.